General information

Recorded in a chapel[1] at Seattle, Washington,[2] the song was originally written for the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, but was scrapped by the director. "I thought it would be awesome for the opening scene, but they wanted something original," Amy stated.[3] However, the producers of the movie later stated that neither Lee nor Evanescence were approached to compose music for Narnia.[4]

It features elements of W.A. Mozart's Lacrimosa from his Requiem in D Minor. The name of the song is a corruption of the Latin term lacrimosa, which means "tearful".[5] This word is also the scientific name for a species of moth, Catocala Lacrymosa, also known as the 'Tearful Underwing'. This species of moth features on the cover of The Open Door's booklet and on the cover for the "Sweet Sacrifice" radio promo CD. Amy stated that she wanted to make Mozart's Requiem "metal" since she listened to it as a teenager.

This was the time for that, for trying things I hadn't been brave enough to try before. I think Mozart would have loved it. He was a rebel.[6]

A 22-cord orchestra led by David Campbell (with whom Evanescence had already worked for their performance at the Billboard Awards 2004) starts off the song in order to introduce a choir, which serves as back up for Amy's vocals.

Dave Campbell is an enormous inspiration source for me. He's so talented. The way he arranges orchestral parts is remarkable. It's the element of our music that makes me cry![2]

Amy's description of the song:

I saw Amadeus when I was nine years old and fell in love with Mozart. The part of Mozart's Requiem called "Lacrimosa" is my favorite piece of music ever. I always wished we could cover it, but with programming and guitars and make it cool. It's our moment to try all the things I wanted to and couldn't, so I started messing with it in Protools. Terry wrote some riffs and turned it into this awesome metal epic.[7]

A 30-seconds clip of this song was used in the trailer for The Open Door.[8][9]

Evanescence added Lacrymosa to the setlist of their The Open Door tour (2006-07).[10][11] It was later played at the New York secret show on November 4, 2009.[12][13] It was also played for the first time in three years in Brazil on October 4, 2012.[14]

Lacrymosa was confirmed to be reworked and included on the orchestral album, Synthesis, when the track list was revealed through the album's pre-order on September 15, 2017. This version was performed live for the first time on October 14, 2017 at the Pearl Concert Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada for the Synthesis Live tour. Watch a performance of the song here.

In the Synthesis tour program/songbook, it is explained that Mozart is one of Evanescence's early influences and their version is their homage to great classical piece and composer.

This song, from our second album, The Open Door, is built around the classic Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem K.626. Mozart's music is one of the inspirations of our sound, and this is our homage.

The song was released on October 27, 2017, even though it was never officially announced as a single.